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Active Kids Newsletter

ACTIVKIDS NEWSLETTER MARCH 2010:

 

IS FITNESS TESTING FOR CHILDREN THE RIGHT WAY TO GO?

 

“All things come to him who waits - provided he knows what he is waiting for”

(Woodrow T. Wilson; American President 1913-1921)

 

7 years, 5 months, 9 days and 73 minutes after the launch of ActivKids, fantastic new evidence suggests that there is now a sustained diminution in the rate of obesity in children under 10 years (source: nurseryworld.co.uk) Now I can’t lay any claims to being a leading reason for this occurring (!) but I would like to think I have played my part in some small way. The Health Survey for England reported 13.9% of children between two and ten years were recorded as obese in 2008, dropping from 15.5% in 2006/7, and 17.3% in 2005.

 

What a great, positive way to start March. And the great news keeps on coming…..

 

The culture secretary, Ben Bradshaw, announced £6 million of funding earmarked for 3000 after school sports clubs in Olympic Sports such as badminton, fencing, handball and boccia (source: The Guardian). This is a clear strategy to link in London 2012 as an inspirational event to engage kids in sports that they may not have a chance to try out. ActivKids welcomes these new opportunities. Sport England and The Youth Sport Trust have been funding sporting opportunities for children for a number of years now through a range of initiatives, but it is great to see a link to the much hyped ‘legacy’ from London 2012 for children being implemented.

 

But then there was a ‘blip’ on this new found positive horizon, and unfortunately it was what I consider quite a major ‘blip’. Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer for England, used his official annual report ‘On the State of Public Health’ to advocate fitness testing for children in secondary schools, in particular the ‘beep test’ (source: The Times). There is part of me that feels that we shouldn’t question the opinion of such an experienced and powerful individual as Sir Liam, but I can’t help myself.

 

The ‘beep test’ for teenagers, conducted at a time in their life when there are huge physical, social and physiological changes taking place, testing their capacity to run shuttles over 20 metres, which may not be some people’s particular forte, and then having the results used as an indicator to whether they are ‘fit’ or not, is in my opinion the most ludicrous thing I have heard since BMI testing for 5 and 11 year old kids! If you want to put young people off engaging in exercise, sport or any other form of physical activity for the rest of their lives, then it’s a great idea. And teenagers don’t need much encouragement to do that! Why on earth do we want to spend time, money and effort conducting one of the most challenging fitness tests for ‘vulnerable’ teenagers (in the sense of continuing an active healthy lifestyle), a test which is used by the Police Force, Fire Services, British Army, and even the Royal Marines!!! Should we not be promoting exercise, sport and physical activity as fun, enjoyable and something that should be a natural part of everyday life? Rather than this task that can reduce a grown man to tears?! Come on, fitness testing, like BMI testing, will surely only cause more problems. What are the true outcomes as every child is different? I realize we started by looking at sustained decreases in obesity levels for kids, but healthy balanced diets and regular physical activity are the key. There have been cases this month of ‘normal looking’ kids receiving warnings of impending ill health because their BMI is ‘too high’ and parents don’t know how to deal with it. Fitness testing is not positive for kids who need to be engaged by enjoyable physical activities, not bullied by threats of morose because of the results of inconclusive testing

 

“All things come to him who waits - provided he knows what he is waiting for”

(Woodrow T. Wilson; American President 1913-1921)

 

 

 

What’s been going on in ActivKids world………..

 

• Fantastic reference for Peter in Swansea who has been delivering PPA cover to local schools @www.activkids.co.uk/News.ic?year=0&articleId=0

 

• ActivKids Leader Chris Eather tells how he built his successful AK business @http://www.activkids.co.uk/News.ic?year=2010&articleId=26

 

• Deadline for ActivTots programme applications set for 31st March 2010 due to phenomenal demand!

 

You can follow ActivKids on Twitter at www.twitter.com/activkids

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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